The Baizou Beat Newswire [CLOSED]

[Baizou]

THE BAIZOU BEAT

News, happenings, and the latest from the pachyderm paradise of the Pacific! Our service will bring you a curated selection of what you need and want to know about the Tangled Policymaking Chimera Commonwealth of Baizou!

[Baizou]

NEWS: 3 days in, Parliament still unsure how to rule on 12-motion deadlock.
After three days, Parliament has yet to resolve the Twelve Motion Deadlock of February 2004. Seven committees across both the Upper Parilament and the Council of Citizens, a magisterial [judicial] council, and four executive offices locked horns three days ago when the New Conservative and Libertarian parties crossed coalition lines to press forward a bill to reduce public primary school funding and create a private school voucher program, which would be a first for Baizou. Observers have criticized the move, some calling the Libertarians "traitors" for crossing coalition lines, though when asked for comments Premier Fukushima has insisted that individual legislators are free to vote according to their conscience, especially when the official coalition agreement focuses primarily on the ongoing magnetic tape dispute.

To pass the measure normally, the New Conservatives and Libertarians would need a majority in both legislatures, which they cannot achieve, even if one grants them the Wakuna Restoration and Liberal Parties. Labor, Marxist, and Lotus leaders have denounced the bill, and Socialists have announced their intention to cross coalition lines to vote against it, if it comes to a floor vote.

To overcome this, the Secondary Temporary Parliamentary Committee for Urgent Legislation (a Wakuna-led committee that serves as rival to the Labor-led Temporary Parliamentary Committee for Urgent Legislation) moved to pass the proposed legislation as a sans-majority "urgent amendment" to the recent Lotus-Labor education bill, and a council of lesser magistrates endorsed the motion as "indeed urgent." In response, the Council of Citizens declared a Commoner's Court and condemned the magisterial council, nullifying the endorsement, until the Parliamentary Committee on Rules of Order proclaimed a review of the Commoner's Court transcript, delaying the nullification, upon which the Justice Bureau and Interactive Policy Department announced an audit of the magisterial council by invoking the Commoner's Court Under Review precedent, upon which two more parliamentary committees declared democratic primacy by virtue of the overlapping audits precedent, which triggered a magisterial council override which in turn enabled the Office of the Premier to exercise a substitute-sovereign-veto, which in turn granted four parliamentary committees simultaneous intervention rights of various kinds and types.

After three days of reviewing the precedents and legislative transcripts, parliamentarians have agreed to call in two legal scholars from National University to help disentangle the motions and identify which precedents and motions are still active, which have nullified each other, and so forth.

[Baizou]

Princess Yuu and the Reconciliation Meetings

In the privacy of a ceremonial tea room, Princess Consort Oshiro Yuu, wife of reigning Sovereign Oshiro Haruto, met with representatives of several Korean families whose ancestors had been relocated from Korea to Baizou during the Pacific War as part of an Imperial Japanese colonial program. This activity continues a trend from Yuu in "following up on" the "loose ends" of her recent history monograph, White Elephants and White Lies: The Pacific War in Baizoan Public Memory, a deconstructive history that for many Baizoans has shattered a long-standing national narrative of pure victimhood at the hands of Imperial Japan. Yuu demonstrates that the reality was more complicated—the Baizoan state struck agreements and surrender treaties to gain power in the growing Empire in exchange for carrying out certain of the Empire's programs. Most notably and most controversially for Baizou was Korean resettlement, a program that separated numerous Korean families in the early twentieth century as part of an effort to assimilate the peninsula.

It is not known publicly at this time whether Yuu or the families in question prompted the meeting, but Yuu has expressed her interest in "reconciliation and accountability" on the part of Baizou to the descendants of Korean victims of Imperial resettlement.

When asked why she was willing to spend so much time on matters that happened so long ago and that Baizou played a relatively small role in, Yuu said, "Baizou's role in the Pacific War was small—but we still chose to play it. Now, we choose to take responsibility."

Descendants interviewed after the meeting seemed to come away with positive feelings and in high spirits.

Wi Iseul, great-grandson of Wi Eun-Hee and a graduate student at Korea University, said of the experience, "Sometimes, people outside Korea assume that because it was a long time ago, it doesn't really matter anymore. But Yuu surprised me with her interest and concern. It's hard to explain to most foreigners how strongly the War is still impressed on public memory, how even though I wasn't there I hear about it through my family, through memorials, through history, it's all around, you know? And Yuu seemed to sense the recency better than most."

"She knows how to speak with a translator," said Gwak Bora, granddaughter of Gwak Dae-Ho and a grandmother herself. "Princess Yuu never once looked at the interpreter when I spoke—her eyes stayed on me the whole time."

Not all were impressed. Ban Min-Jung, daughter of Ban Tae and also the oldest guest, said gently but unmoved, "I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. My ire is not really with the Princess or with any individual Baizoan. But I don't think the mechanisms of state will really allow this 'reconciliation' to last longer than our meeting today."

And some Baizoans criticized the meeting for happening at all. Representative Umehara Kaito, of the New Conservative Party and a critic of White Elephants ever since it released called the meeting "an exercise in guilt" and accused Yuu of "slandering our fallen soldiers."

Even so, Yuu has expressed her own sense of optimism about the meeting and has suggested that it may be the first of similar rendezvous to, in her words, "listen, learn, and respect."

[Baizou]

The Yamamachi Herald
March 1, 2021: "Wakuna Restoration Bloc Denounces 'Aisle Crossers' For Supporting Constitutional Amendment"

A surprising piece of legislation was read in the Committee for Human Affairs today when the young Representative Meikawa Tomoko of the Hakutsuka district submitted a constitutional amendment that would reduce the sovereign's role to a purely ceremonial one, stripping the throne of all formal powers of government, including but not limited to the right to overturn magisterial rulings in Yamamachi Prefecture and the right to first submission of national budgets. Meikawa is a member of the Socialist Party, a member of the Wakuna Restoration Bloc led by the Wakuna Restoration Party, a Baizoan political faction which calls for the restoration of the Baizoan kingship and certain formal powers. However, while the Restoration Party leads the Bloc, the Bloc officially exists only to advance a magnetic tape deregulation agenda, with each member party setting aside other political differences. Even so, Wakuna Restoration Party leadership has issued a strongly-worded rebuke through its official channel denouncing Meikawa as an "aisle crosser" and warning other legislators in the Bloc against supporting the Amendment. In response, the Socialist Party has issued a joint statement with a few other Bloc parties to insist on their right to pursue legislation in accordance with their platforms independent of the magnetic tape issue.

The Committee for Human Affairs is still discussing the amendment but is expected to vote on it later this week.

[Baizou]

白塚国際 Hakutsuka International
"Anti-Capitalism Caucus Negotiations Leaked"

March 12, 2004

Earlier this week, the Baizou Daily Report published leaked information about an alleged "Anti-Capitalism Caucus" being negotiated between the Baizoan Socialist and Baizoan Marxist Parties. The leaks claim top-level leadership in both parties have been in closed-room talks about forming such a non-bloc caucus together. If Socialists and Marxists formed such a caucus together, it would be the first time the parties officially politically organized together in their more than half a century of rivalry and cold relations.

Top-level party leaders have not yet responded to questions from the Hakutsuka International, but constituents and legislators have expressed mixed emotions.

"If they are having these talks, they'll have to make it public to the party members before going through with it, and party members are going to have to approve of it," said Representative Meikawa Tomoko of Hakutsuka (白塚) (S). "I left the Marxists, mind you, but I'm open-minded to cooperating. We may be in different blocs, but we still share key values."

Others were more critical. "The Marxists are revisionists and dreamers," said Kōyamashi (鉱山市) prefectural viceroy Hiraoka Bunko. "Our party formed precisely because they betrayed revolutionary values in the postwar to collaborate with bourgeoise politics. I want rapprochement as much as anyone, but it would be premature right now."

The leaked plans are still highly preliminary. Though news has reported on this as the "Anti-Capitalism Caucus," the leaked materials indicate that even the name is a placeholder, with "Communism Caucus," "Marxisms Caucus," and "Marxist-Socialist Caucus" all being up for consideration.

[Baizou]

白象新聞 Baizou Shinbun
"Party Leaders React to Anti-Capitalism Caucus"

March 20, 2004

Top party leaders from the Socialist and Marxist Parties have confirmed the leak that they have been discussing the possibility of forming a non-bloc caucus together, tentatively named the Anti-Capitalism Caucus. The Socialist and Marxist Parties have been rivals at best and enemies at worst for more than half a century, but this negotiation seems to signal a long-thought-impossible rapprochement between the two parties.

Party leaders from the governing Grand Coalition and opposition Wakuna Restoration Bloc have begun weighing in on the matter.

"Certainly, politicians within the Coalition are free to mingle with others outside the Coalition," said Premier Fukushima Sonoko, often considered de facto leader of the Coalition (though not de jure, as the Marxists officially lead the party). "After all, our members often reach out to members of the Green, Aboriginal Recognition, and Power Parties, even though they are independent and don't affiliate with either the Coalition or the Bloc."

Despite sounding open-minded, though, Fukushima hedged on outright support for the proposed Caucus. She said, "I'm not sure what the Marxists and Socialists hope to accomplish. I was given to understand their platforms are incompatible on key points, correct? Magnetic tape, technological and social revolutionism, certain civil liberties, and electoral organization all come to mind."

Lotus Conservative leader Councilor Akitamoto Fujio was vaguer but also less critical. "I'm not surprised they're interested in organizing together," Akitamoto said. "After all, they're the only two openly communist-type parties in Baizou. Sure, the Labors and New Liberals, among others, rely on certain anti-capitalist critiques, but, well, I can only assume it's not quite the same."

The Libertarians, the newest addition to the Grand Coalition, were outright hostile, and the party voted in favor of a condemnatory resolution after convening an emergency session. The resolution states, "In the strongest language possible, we condemn the Marxist Party's willingness to cross Coalition lines and court the support of the radical Socialists. The Libertarians reaffirm our prior-stated concern that continuing to include the anti-capitalist Marxists in the Grand Coalition will jeopardize Baiou's government and society."

In response to inquiry from the Baizou Shinbun, the Marxist Party committee has said it is aware of the criticisms but is not concerned.

"We respectfully ask the Libertarians to not doubt our Coalition loyalty," a spokesperson said. "And while we are grateful for Premier Fukushima's concern, we likewise respectfully remind her that whether or not the Marxist and Socialist Parties can collaborate will be up to our members, and not up to her."

[Baizou]

白象新聞 Baizou Shinbun
"Sovereign Throne Denounces Easter Devotional Scalping"

April 3, 2004

Sovereign Haruto now navigates controversy in light of the discovery that some people have been scalping tickets to their Easter devotional scheduled for tomorrow, Palm Sunday. Sponsored by the Baizoan Holy Cross College, the oldest Jesuit institution of higher education in Baizou, the devotional is not technically considered a civil event, and Haruto will speak in his capacity as a civilian Catholic. Nevertheless, to avoid profiting off the throne, entry to the limited auditorium space was made free with an RSVP. The devotional will also be broadcast on television, and the Baizou Broadcast Service will be airing it, in addition to a few other channels.

However, as the Hakutsuka International reported this morning, their journalists discovered that multiple individuals from both in and outside of Baizou are exploiting the high demand for auditorium seating by scalping tickets they acquired early on in the ticket dispersal process. Journalists report that at least one ticket has scalped for more than 150 pounds, and fifty pounds is the median price.

After the International broke the story, Sovereign Haruto condemned the activity. "At a minimum, this an illegal violation of the terms for those tickets. More importantly, this is greedy, selfish, exploitative, and unchristian," he said. "Holy Cross College chose to furnish access to the devotional as a public good, free to any interested. To know that in Baizou some would exploit that generosity as well as others' sincere desire to attend is disturbing and saddening."

Holy Cross College has confirmed it still plans to hold the event, and it has promised to compensate anyone who paid for a scalped ticket. Whether or not the College will pursue legal action remains unknown.

[Baizou]

白塚国際 (The Hakutsuka International)
"Scalping Won't Stop, But Maybe Royal Speaking Events Should"
Op-ed by Representative Meikawa Tomoko of Hakutsuka (Socialist Party)

April 15, 2004

It's been two weeks since news of ticket scalping for Sovereign Haruto's Palm Sunday devotional at Baizoan Holy Cross College first broke. The good news is that Holy Cross College has compensated everyone who paid for a scalped ticket. Some of the scalpers have even been identified and they're being charged for abusive market practices.

However, there's been no word on changes to any future royal speaking engagements. The palace is hosting a few holiday speeches by Sovereign Haruto, the Historical Society of Baizou is hosting a book signing and interview for the second edition of Princess Yuu's White Elephants, and Holy Cross College even plans on sponsoring another devotional at Christmas, this time with Princess Yuu. Can we really think there won't be scalpers at these events, too?

The scalping is just another proof that the royal institution is unhealthy for Baizou. I respect the Sovereign and Princess Consort as people—I myself have a copy of White Elephants and White Lies and think it's a good book—but the royal institution elevates what could be good people into nationalist icons. Some of the scalped tickets for the Easter devotional went for over 150 pounds. That price could go up! Is it really right for us to be so enamored with a man just because he was born to one woman and not another?

I join the Hakutsuka International in reiterating the all-important call for Sovereign Haruto and Princess Consort Yuu to step down and abolish the throne. Let us no longer be a Commonwealth, but a people's democracy, a people's republic!

[Baizou]

白象新聞 Baizou Shinbun
"New Bill Proposes Postponing Baizou's Golden Week By One Day"

April 16, 2004

This morning, a group of parliamentary representatives—one each from the Socialist, New Liberal, International Peace, and Libertarian Parties—co-sponsored a bill to adjust the timing of Baizou's Golden Week to delay each holiday by a single day, starting it on April 30 instead of April 29. The proposed law has become controversial and unusually non-partisan, with no party unifying for or against the cause, even among the sponsors' parties.

Baizou has celebrated the Golden Week holidays since 1948, shortly after Japan's Public Holidays Law passed. Although Baizou was no longer under Japanese Imperial rule at the time, the Baizoan government adopted Golden Week holidays (though they were not yet known by that name) to commemorate the new Japanese constitution and express East Asian solidarity in the aftermath of the nuclear bombings that ended the Asia-Pacific War. The series of holidays became popularly known as "Golden Week" in Japan starting in 1951, and the nickname spread to Baizou as well.

The sponsors proposed this change in order to remove April 29 from the Golden Week celebration. Their reason given is that in Japan, April 29 has been celebrated as Shōwa Day—the birthday of the Shōwa Emperor, leader of the mid-twentieth-century Japanese Empire that colonized Baizou during the Asia-Pacific War.

After proposing the bill in the Calendars Subcommittee, sponsoring representatives released a statement that read in part, "It is inconsistent, inconsiderate, and inconceivable that we, the very victims of imperial aggression, should celebrate the birthday of a conqueror. Baizoans should not treat April 29 as anything but what it is—a completely normal day irrelevant to our commemorative interests."

Even in 1948, the adoption of that week of holidays was controversial because of the inclusion of April 29, and Marxist party members voted against the motion on those grounds. Governing parties at the time made no comment on Shōwa Day and focused the holiday adoption on economic benefits, a leisure movement, and commemorating the new "peace constitution."

No party has yet released a statement on the proposed legislation. Some individual representatives have made individual statements, but so far no partisan pattern has revealed itself. For example, Representative Otsuka Shin of the Self-Defense Party issued a statement in support of the bill: "I'm raising a family. What explanation can I give to my oldest child as to why we of all nations have a holiday on April 29?" Meanwhile, Viceroy Kikuchi Aki, also of the Self-Defense Party, declared strong opposition: "Troubled though our nations' politics may be, as Baizoan and Japanese people we share traditions and we share families. Do we really want to throw a wrench in transnational family holiday plans for the sake of making a statement?"

Likewise, leading Socialist representative Meikawa Tomoko released a statement expressing her support: "Imperialism and colonial capitalism haunt our institutions. An extra day for consumerist spending does not justify commemorating a long-dead Emperor." However, another Socialist parliamentary representative has spoken against the bill: "Baizoans begin Golden Week on April 29 not to honor the Shōwa Emperor, but to honor the victims of the Shōwa regime."

With April 29 only thirteen days away, policy analysts think it is unlikely that the bill will affect this year's Golden Week. At the same time, the nearness of the holidays has sparked a sense of urgency among policymakers, and pollsters have received many requests to survey Baizoan electorates.

[Baizou]

六甲山新報 (The Rokkoyama Report)

"Sovereign, Princess Consort, and Japanese Emperor to Meet Amid Golden Week Controversy

April 19, 2004

Baizou's Golden Week controversy continues, and legislators in the Parliament and Council continue to debate in an unusually nonpartisan disagreement. Three days in, Premier Fukushima Sonoko has yet to provide a statement on her opinion on the inclusion or exclusion of April 29 in Baizou's Golden Week.

New legislation proposes removing April 29 from Baizou's Golden Week because it is the birthday of the Shōwa Emperor, who led the mid-twentieth-century Japanese Empire that colonized Baizou during the Asia-Pacific War.

Japan does not officially recognize April 29 as "Shōwa Day," though it used to. In 1989, the Japanese government renamed the April 29 Golden Week kick-off holiday from "the Emperor's Birthday" to "Greenery Day," following the death of the Shōwa Emperor.

However, some in Japan have called for the holiday to be renamed "Shōwa Day," and it is still the birthday of the Shōwa Emperor—hence the controversy in Baizou, where many remember the Shōwa Emperor as a conqueror.

Amidst the ongoing discussions and debates, Sovereign Haruto and Princess Consort Yuu somewhat surprised the nation by announcing that they would in the near future—prior to Golden Week this year, a press secretary confirmed—meet in-person with his Majesty the Emperor of Japan.

Given the name Akihito at birth and sometimes already called the Heisei Emperor (per the name of his era), his Majesty is the son of the Shōwa Emperor whose memory lies at the center of the Golden Week controversy.

[Baizou]

白象日報 (The Baizou Daily Report)
"Marxists and Socialists Considering Caucusing Across Coalition Lines"

March 11, 2004

The Marxist Party and Socialist Party, political rivals if not outright enemies ever since the end of the postwar occupation, plan to cross coalition lines to form a legislative caucus, a staffer with inside knowledge of the negotiations reports.

The staffer, who has requested to be kept anonymous for fear of rebuke from their party, explains that high-level leadership in the Marxist and Socialist parties have been meeting behind closed doors to discuss the possibilities of caucusing together to discuss and even collaborate on mutual interests. The caucus is tentatively called the "Anti-capitalism Caucus." Other names have also been considered, including "Communism Caucus," "Marxisms Caucus," and "Marxist-Socialist Caucus."

The Marxist Party of Baizou has existed since the Meiji Era. The Socialists emerged as a fissiparous group that schismed off the Marxist Party in the aftermath of World War II. Socialists accused the main body of Marxists of revisionism and liberalization. Marxists have since embraced a political identity as Marxian reformers rather than classical revolutionary communists, a posture which the Socialists remain committed to.

In a telephone interview, Hidetaka Hanako, associate professor of history at Seiyama University (聖山大学, abbreviated to 聖山 or Seidai), said that such a collaboration between Marxists and Socialists would be unprecedented in the schismatic parties' history.

"Being different from the Marxists—being more radical, more revolutionary, more orthodox—has been the Socialists' morning star for more than half a century. And being more 'moderate' and 'respectable' than Socialists has in turn defined the Marxist Party," Hidetaka said. "In the 1950s and 1960s, even family members sometimes disowned each other over partisan division as Marxists and Socialists. While the atmosphere has cooled significantly since then, I did not think it had cooled quite so much as to make cross-coalition caucusing a live possibility."

In addition to their traditional differences, the Marxist and Socialist parties align with different coalitions in the legislature. The Marxist Party is a member of the Grand Coalition of 1998 which is the governing alliance in power, with Premier Fukushima Sonoko (Labor Party) as the de facto head. The Socialists are aligned with the Wakuna Restoration Bloc of 2004, who act as the opposition in government. Caucusing together would mean potentially crossing coalition lines.

No top party leader has yet responded to this news.

During a routine press conference, Ambassador-at-large Mizushima Miya (Marxist Party), often considered the public face of both Baizou and of the Marxist Party, declined to answer questions about the reported negotiations.

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(This publication is referenced in a March 12, 2004 article by the Hakutsuka International.